Hi! I’m AnoukInsites consulting, Global research agency Specialized in communities – all parts of the world, through our 5 offices and moderation teams in over 30 countries work in our Global R&amp;D team Overal communities, doen, ookhier in asia, methode as a whole, verschillencontinentenKomhiergraag; As you can see in the picture, not first time First time I visited SEA was indonesiasurabaya and bali.

Through internet, connect with each other. Also with brands. Every year, conduct a study called; Social Media around the world Results from this year show that in asia (china, japan andindia), 6/10 social network users are connected to brandsComparing this result with global number, it is actually the same (also 6/10)Background:- According to an April 2012 report released by McKinsey, 91 percent of those connected to the Internet have visited a social media site during the last six months, compared with 30 percent in Japan, 67 percent in the United States and 70 percent in South Korea- In China, 2 out of 3 social network users follow at least one brand. In India and Japan, approximately 1 out of 2 follows brands on social networks

In this same study, we examined to what extent they do not only follow brands, but also want to interact with them. More than 9/10 consumers want to collaborate with companies they like in co-creation projects. This is even more than in someother Western countries (8/10), showing the hugepotentialfor market research in online environment. Of these people, 30% prefers to do so via a closed research community , compared to 36% on global level. So that is not that different at all!

What are these research communities about? This kind of community is basically is an online closed platform, like a closed facebook page, where you invite people that share a strong interest for over a certain period mainly use for qualitative research purposes. We consider the participants as equal partners more than other methods. The moderator starts new topics but we alsoempower members to start their own discussions and enable them to share (un)solicited feedback. It is about bringing people together that like to talk about the same topics, can be a brand, a lifestyle, hobby or activity.

4 mainingredientsfor a research communityProfile: who’s on board? Fromour research on research, knowthat high performers of community show higher topic/brand identification those invite, inspireus. Number? Workwithpeoplebetween 50-150 people. Research shows reachsaturation level of discussions #30 posts &gt; need 50-150 members reachthis. Group to big to moderate, participantstodiscuss a topic Duration? Depending on the goal of the community, we decide on the duration of the community, varybetween 3 weeks, couple of months, even ongoing. Goal? Basicallyallobjectivesthat we do forqual research; insighting routines, developingconcepts or campaigns, toimplementing market andoptimizingproducts/services. Couple of examplesfrom 4 cases.

Great, &lt;insert status of communities in asia&gt;we now know what communities are. Illustrate how we run them, based on 4 cases (all conducted in asian market) Let’s start with Ikea.

Everyone knows ikea; international retail organization. For IKEA, the yearly Catalogue is the main communication channel with existing and potential customers globally. Since 1951, the IKEA catalogue has been a vital part of IKEA retailing. Today, more than 200 million households around the world receive the IKEA catalogue. The IKEA catalogue is distributed to reach a substantial amount of households in the catchment areas of the 340IKEA stores. In order to maximize the impact of this spearhead touchpoint, IKEA raised the following objectives:Assess the perception, satisfaction and level of engagement the 2013 IKEA Catalogue evokes.Understand how the IKEA Catalogue can inspire and stimulate home furnishing interest.Optimize the creative execution of the 2014 IKEA Catalogue by measuring and understanding the stomach impact of the IKEA Catalogue Cover.

Over the past years the feeling had grown within IKEA that the qualitative evaluation of the Catalogue, done through offline focus groups in different countries around the world.Idea could potentially be done in a different, fresher and better way. Research team was on the lookout for new ideas for evaluation process. Encountered 5 reasons to move to communities.

Focus groups were only giving a snapshot of reality: the first reactions to the new Catalogue. No real insights were gained on people’s second thoughts and their behavior afterwards (how they are using the Catalogue and how that usage evolves over time).Evaluating the Catalogue in an MROC gives us the opportunity to work with the same participants over a longer period of time (3 weeks of 24/7 contact in this case) in the comfort and context of their own living environment (home). In this project, we were able to follow the evolution in perception and usage of the Catalogue over time (before the Catalogue arrived, the first flip-through moments and different reading sessions). This is something that is hard to realize with traditional methods in a cost-efficient way. Explain rooms on community!

Evaluation toolsGiven the limited time spent with consumers and a limited portfolio of research techniques possible, focus groups did not bring that much fresh and inspiring information to the table. Every year, a new edition of the Catalogue was only judged partially (due to the limits of the method) and in the same way. Leading to conclusions that were very similar year after year.To get a holistic view on participant’s use &amp; perception of the Catalogue, a whole range of research techniques were plugged-in to the community platform: observational tasks, an online diary, a collage tool, mini-surveys, creative exercises, group discussions and even implicit/emotion measurement tools. Communities allowed us to blend different research methods, giving us depth and breadth in terms of the insights we found.

Profiles: Also, the limited number of participants per session in a focus group and the dominance of certain individuals in the discussion. Think about your last focus group and what you actually learned from all of the participants.Communities are characterized by the fact that you can work withmore peopleofdifferent profiles. In this case, with 50 participants in each of the 5 countries. We included 3 different profiles: potential, existing and lapsed customers. 5 MROCs to hear the opinions of ‘the many people’ in one single project, on one platform.

Fourthly, the project owners experienced that the quality of a focus group was largely determined by the quality and experience of the moderator. There was probably interviewer bias as well. Leading to the fact that country differences were possibly due to differences in moderation style, rather than real differences between cultures. Out of the ‘research on research’, we know that for most participant profiles and research objectives it is best to run a community in the mother tongue of the participants. Firstly, by doing so they will discuss more with us and they will post in a more nuanced and emotional way. Secondly, our experience has shown that it is a must that the community is moderated by a native who knows the language, the local culture and the local market. All of this will lead to more relevant and to-the-point customer dialogues. That is why we made the choice to set-up a separate MROC in each of the 5 countries. By working with a single master topic guide (that is adapted to the local reality and culture of the country) you partly eliminate interviewer bias. The project is ran by a team of different people that work together both on country and global level.

Finally, despite all the new technologies available to follow offline focus groups from home as a client, internal stakeholders do not follow sessions that often. To conclude: focus group transcripts are experienced as not that convenient and pleasant to go back to the real discussion to get inspired or justify an element, when creating or making decisions. Resulting in that internal stakeholders are less confronted with the ‘voice of the customers’ during and after the project.We give intermediate updates to the different stakeholdersThis gives the business owners the opportunity to finalize the topic guide for the upcoming days: going deeper on certain elements that are really interesting or pushing the discussion into a new direction. For ikea: The research results have led to significant changes that are made to the app. We now know that the new concept of the Catalogue was a big step into a new and right direction and improvements will be made based on the research towards the 2014 edition.

Quinny = global manufacturer of baby strollers and pushchairsRecently changed their strategy, strong focus on the parents living in the city. Urbanization trendCreate understanding about target group, for organization Setup a community, learn all about this target group, frictions, solutions, Universal concept: urban parent, lots of things in common. Learn from each otherCommunity with parents from among others: tokyo, seoul and kualalumpur

In order tocreatethisunderstandingandidentify these insights. toenablethemtoalwaysbe in touchwith the community, offer mobile app. Very important, especiallyhere, where mobile is taking over from Desktop, or even skipping the whole desktop phase. Design andcustomizeour topics andchallengesto mobile. For example, here we ask the urbanparentsto share their hot spots of the city.Here, one participant Weestephy is sharing her moment of a theme baby party in KL. Sheexplainsthattheyusedto do this at home, but duetomanycafe-restaurants andurban lifestyle, youngparentspreferto host partieswithfriendsand family. Alsoverynicetomentionaboutthis case; top contributors of the community, received a strollerfromQuinnyto test itand share theirexperienceswith the community. Almostlike real reporters. Through the platform, they are alwaysconnectedand in touch.

So, facilitate your target group to share as much information (and personal) Next example is from heinzIllustrate on how we adapt to local cultures

After developing packaging,an online research community in 7 key markets (Japan, China, UK, Russia, Germany, USA and Brazil) was set up. Among others in China and Japan.The objectives were to better understand expectations towards packaging within a local context; to obtain consumer feedback for a range of packaging innovations and to assess opportunity areas for further pack idea optimization.

The Heinz ShapeIt community was conducted with 191 active participants and generated over 6,000 consumer posts over the course of 3 weeks. The research community counted 4 separate discussion rooms. Each room focused on a specific set of packaging ideas addressing a similar consumer benefit. A fifth room was a social corner to allow participants to engage in tangential “off topic” conversations. Such a social room is needed to keep focus and reduce noise in the actual research discussions, but also help to create consumer engagement

Comparingasiancountrieswith rest, learned 3 important waystoadapt approach Motivations; more on intrinsic, eagertolearn, identifywithaspirational brand Topics; betterresultswhen in group vs. Personal (indirect). And, alsogiving feedback andevaluations, less on co-creationexercises. Role of the moderator;

Important culture differencesadapting the community Finalexample isfrom Philips about a study in chinese market

Sleep has been identified as one of the key markets and innovation opportunities for Philips.3 month project launched to assess sleep market in Asia Pacific region. Objective was to assess market potential and advise on go-to-market.Deep dive on chine, to create understanding behind all the dry numbers from desk research.

Medical topic, more sensitive. In order to draw the right conclusions on this new market, needed to have more cultural context. So, we invited 10 extra participants as our culture experts to help us OR co-researchers.Their goal was to observe the other members and challenge the initial conclusions we shared with them. Share an example: Our first analysis indicated that Chinese consumers told us sleeping was about for their psychological and physiological well-being, such as feeling upbeat, smiling and happiness. But the culture expertstaught us there was also a higher motivational element behind it. More importantly for Chinese people sleeping well allows one being able to work harder in order to be successful. Professional success ultimately brings material wealth and in the end status. Success and ambition are major drivers in the lives of the Chinese (as in many societies), but it’s not appropriate for them to communicate about this openly from their own personal perspective. Learning about this insight was important for Philips e.g. in developing the ideal communication message for sleeping solutions. Ultimately, these experts have helped us so much; 14% conclusions challenged and shaped by them.

4 cases: learnings on we run communities in asia pacific. Impact?Ikea:360 view of catalogue, first moment to usage after couple of weeks. Quinny: understanding of these parents, relevant innovation funnel, inspiring designers with new (relevant) experiments such as the longboard stroller Heinz:Expanding from 13 original pack ideas to 19 // Higher fit to consumer: concrete tactile changes to packaging serving functional (e.g. hygiene) as well as marketing roles (e.g. resonance)Philips: Confirmation of market potential in China justified // need for further work on product positioning and concept testing.

Connect over time to capture reality and reach more people (diverse population, complex region)Go Mobile to participate anytime, anywhere (asia = mobile dominant)Local communities by default for a custom approachUsing co-researchers to explore sensitive topics

Transcript of "Collaborating with consumers in Asia"

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in AsiaCollaborating withconsumersHow to run Research Communities in AsianmarketsAnouk Willems